Coral Snake (2006)

[ljaylh]

Snake Oil with blood orange, red apple, lemon peel, plumeria, and gardenia.

So far, nothing from the Snake Pit has let me down, so I will continue to justify my obsession with hoarding everything that slithers out of it.

Coral Snake.. oh, it's lovely.

I was a bit scared about this one, because gardenia.. I have big gardenia bushes in my garden and the fragrance is so sweet and strong when they're in flower - beautiful in my garden, but not on my skin. But *rejoice* I'm not picking up the gardenia in this, it's beautifully hidden. Same with the lemon, which my skin usually amps like crazy - it's there, but very mellow.

If I had to break it down, I'd say 80% apple, 10% orange, then the rest of it is the plumeria, gardenia and lemon snoozing under there somewhere. Permeating all of it is that lovely warm snake oil glistening like a sexy beast between all the fruity goodness.

LOVE it - definitely a keeper and I reckon it's going to smell even better a year from now, if I can keep it that long!!

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

I love all of the applelicious BPAL scents I've tried so far, but this one is king. It starts off as mostly strong apple cider, but on my skin it develops into a complex stunner with non-flowery florals, non-tangy citrus, (lol) and a real mellow warm apple with a dribble of gorgeous snake oil underneath - in other words, blended to perfection. I agree with a previous reviewer that the dry down seems to have an almost tropical mango note. This is my favorite floral/fruit BPAL evah! Gorgeous!

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Spicy and fruity. Lots of red apple, with mulling spices, orange peel and lemon peel. I don't get blood orange, really. Hint of white floral.

 

Wet: Cinnamon galore, less citrus. This is really like a lot of Halloween scents. Quite foody. The apple is crisp, juicy and sweet - and lovely - but this is just so spicy.

 

Dry: Apple fading a bit. I'm getting more and more of that musky-cola snake oil now, and a bit of sweet plumeria. I like how the apple note is sort of candied.

 

Later: So strange that gardenia, which typically loves my skin, is not here. Musk has come out more, and the cinnamon has, amazingly, calmed down a bit.

 

Summary: Candied apple with a hint of cinnamony mulled cider and dark snake oil. Intriguing and evolves nicely, but not my style. Good throw & longevity.

 

 

[rayvn1]

Very pretty scent, but another no-go for me with the Snake Pit. This one is a dead ringer for The Perfumed Garden, though. Strong apple and flower smell with barely any SO other than a faaaint hint in the background. I refuse to give up with these slithering lovelies since King Cobra is so freaking amazing.

[CynicalPink]

Testable sniffie!

 

Imp: Spicy apples

 

Wet: NOM NOM NOM spicy apple and citrus

 

Drydown: This is amazingly well rounded. It's just a delicious spicy apple scent with a gentle floral touch at the end of the sniff. Lovely spice and fruit

 

Overall: I'm so conflicted. This smells amazingly good, I just don't know if I'm going to wear it regularly...but pretty spice...WANT

[GardenCat]

I always pick this out when I have a red sweater on - it seems to sum up warm appley goodness! (Although, be careful - a lil goes a long way - as I spilt some in my pocket today and am gonna smell good ALL DAY!)

[zee]

Reading these reviews and re-testing my bottle has been like a lesson in nose-training. My bottle of Coral Snake was an impulse buy, listed on a sales page at a price that made me do grabby hands, alongside a bottle that I'd been lusting after for a while. So I'm not quite sure how old it is, although I know the label has had minor adjustments and I seem to have the newer version.

 

The first time I tested it, I couldn't make it out. Was that the blood orange or -- what was that?

 

But retesting today, I can't believe I missed it. It's undeniably luscious red apples in the bottle, then mulled apple cider when on, with a bit of blood orange stewing in there with it. As it dries, some of the spiciness of the Snake Oil comes out to play, and I'm glad that there's only a touch of the base to be found (not because I dislike Snake Oil at all, but I'm enjoying the mulled cider so much that SO taking over would be quite a disappointment.) My only complaint is that wear-length is not very long on me -- after a while I really have to place my nose right next to my wrist to have a huff, and my skin normally carries scent without the need for reapplying all day.

 

I love this, though. This will be perfect for the end of the summer and for Autumn, so I'm going to put my bottle away for a few months. What's more, I bet it will turn into absolute heaven in those months, and I can't wait!

[WidgetAlley]

Bottle: Strong, fresh apples-- definitely red delicious, complete with their peels-- and hints of gardenia, plumeria, and maybe just the lightest bit of citrus. There's Snake Oil in there too, but I can barely smell it. It lends a foody twist, so this almost smells like baked apples.

 

Wet: Yum! The apple dies back a little, but is still very present, and lets more of the floral and Snake Oil shine through, and even a bit of the blood orange. The overall effect is of something a little fruity, a little spicy, a little floral, and a little vanilla, but not overwhelmingly any of those. It's warm and inviting and has a bit of throw, although it's not terribly strong. Fresh Snake Oil has a tiny bit of a playdough effect on me, and I'm smelling a touch of that here, but oh well. I know it will go away with a bit of aging, and it's not enough to ruin it anyway.

 

Dry: This is lovely! It's a warm, spiced apple rather than a cool, crunchy one, and has serious overtones of citrus and florals and vanilla and spice. It will be great for a late summer/early fall day, with all that lovely sunshine and fluffy white clouds, and (I suspect) even better with some age on it! All in all, a definite keeper. It does fade fast, alas, but that's just an excuse to slather more!

[ShadowsDance]

This is the only snake pit blend I've tried where the snake oil isn't very apparent. This was a very sweet scent on me, mainly apples and the plumeria. Occasionally some vanilla, or citrus would come out.. never much of an incense like scent as the others have had, though. It's more a sweet fruity-floral on me.

 

I should also note that my imp has been aging for a good while now, probably about a year. This really didn't strike me as anything special the first time I tried it way back then, but it's pretty amazing now. Definitely a blend that seems to get better with age.

Edited May 18, 2009 by ShadowsDance

[Leopard403]

I really love this! I'm not really a Snake Oil fan, but this is tempered so beautifully by the fruits and the florals that it is barely recognizable as an SO base.

And I love that this is such a chameleon: It is fresh and fruity for summer, but heady and sweet for winter. Very versatile!

[Eucatastrophe]

Smells absolutely delicious in the imp. Unfortunately upon dry down it kind of turns into a muted spicy apple scent that reminds me of the candles you see in drug stores.

[megank4]

This smells like warm cinnamony apples. Not too much Snake Oil, unless that is what is giving it the cinnamon note for me.

Slight orange but that is it.

Also burns a bit. Doesn't seem to have much throw but smells really nice.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Megank4

[Lyrical]

In imp: very bright and fruity with no Snake Oil apparent at all. Mostly apple with orange just behind and the florals staying shyly in the background.

 

Wet on skin: spicy and fruity - actually more spicy than most of the others, even though spice notes are not listed.

 

Dry on skin: a slight sourness appears under the fruit. Otherwise it reminds me other other warm-fruity-spicy blends such as Pumpkin Queen. Not much musk here, and only the faintest touch of creamy vanilla.

 

It actually lasted on my skin for almost 24 hours, with a warm, almost powdery feel to it. It feels warm, adult and sexy in the same way Bilquis is warm, adult and sexy. Both scents are somewhere in between the youthful, fruity scents and the dirty, sexy scents, and I really like that place!

[BuxomM]

It's very floral and a bit sweet and fruity. It smells like gardenia and green apple. It's too floral and not sweet enough for me. I'm not a fan of gardenia.

Edited March 16, 2010 by BuxomM

[HamletsKeeper]

This smells foody to me, very apple.

 

Bottle Sniff Apples, but not a green fresh apple, apples muted with something else. But still lovely.

 

Wet On Skin Very light scent that's vaguely fruity. I really hope this one morphs because so far it's just meh...

 

Extreme Drydown It takes a good 30mins for this scent to blossom on my skin, and when it does I get a spiced apple. The SO isn't apparent but it's there just giving body to a scent that would otherwise fade in minutes. If you want to smell SO then give this one a miss because you won't get it to any degree. I don't smell any gardenia at all, nor blood orange and only the tiniest hint of lemon. It's a nice scent with promise to be amazing. But at the moment it's just too faint and I'm hoping ageing it will allow the SO to give a bit more depth and longevity to it.

 

 

 

[Aldercy]

Apple is definitely the strongest, followed by orange... the result is actually very similar to the orange-peel spiked apple cider of Fearful Pleasure, since the Snake Oil lends some heat and spice to the fruits. The florals are definitely in the background-- I get a tiny bit of plumeria soap, but no gardenia at all. Overall, the Snake Oil is light compared to some of the other Snake Pits, and it's a very pretty, early fall kind of scent.

 

I'll hang on to my decant, but I'm not in hoard mode over this one.

[NightingaleRB]

My mother and I really need to stop enabling each other. ;p (At the time of this writing I haven't technically smelled Snake Oil on its own, so everything relating to that particular smell is total guesswork.)

 

This bit was written last year, when I first got Coral Snake: In the bottle I can nearly detect everything clearly, smells sweet but not too much so and I'm really feeling the Snake Oil. Once it goes on though the SO takes over, and... um. I'm not quite sure what it is but suddenly I'm remembering all the SO horror stories. It's not BAD but it's nothing like I was expecting from the description OR the bottle-sniff. Vanilla? Maybe burned vanilla. ... Okay, as it dries the close-up still smells like SO, but further away I get whiffs of the flowers. It gets slightly less "burnt" as time goes on too.

 

And this bit was written today: I am SO glad I was patient with this one. The Snake Oil has calmed down considerably; now it smells like a dark vanilla instead of a burnt mess. It does still take over the blend while wet, though. The flowers emerge next; the SO is staying close to the skin but the flowers have more throw, creating a very interesting effect. I wish the apple and other fruits were louder on me though... it is there, a little bit, but it doesn't pop out (at least not as much as it did from the bottle). And on dry down, everything retreats back into my skin, leaving spicy deliciousness. This is hard to describe but it smells different when I sniff normally, and when the scent wafts into the BACK of my nose from my mouth. Like, if I sniff with my nose, I detect a lot of spice and Snake Oil. When I take a deep breath with my mouth open, I detect more florals and a little blood orange. Wow. I have to try this one in a scent locket, it's non-negotiable.

 

I use this when I want: an intriguing mixed scent; sweet enough to make me smile, spicy enough to keep things interesting. Despite the size of the bottle I haven't been wearing this one as much as I should, because my nose is a n00b and everyone else seems to be more sensitive to Coral Snake than I am. Regardless this is a fascinating scent and if it doesn't work at first, let it age for a while.

[childoftime]

Ooh, another beautiful snake! In the bottle, this is all apple! But once I put it on it warmed and opened and I could smell the spices and the flowers a bit.

 

It flirted with powder on me during the drydown, but once it dried, it kept the sweet, tangy apple and spices. Love.

[reynardine]

In bottle: sharp apple scent

Wet: snake oil with apples. The spices are really coming out.

Drydown: spicy apple scent, lovely.

Later: I like this better than Snake Oil, actually. The sweetness cuts into the spiciness. As the scent settles, more of the orange and apple comes out. Will enjoy seeing how this ages.

 

EDIT: 2014 (5 years later): the fruit is not quite so in-your-face, but still there. The drydown on the aged stuff is incredible. More Snake Oil now, but still has the spicy apple and orange in the back.

Edited October 17, 2014 by reynardine

[DeltaCat]

Plumeria and apples wet. Glorious apples. This is amazing holy cow! Wet this is such a sweet and floral scent. On dry down a teeny bit of the Snake Oil comes out, but the apple and plumeria still reign!

[CitizenBree]

In the bottle, this is straight cinnamon apple. Smells like my oatmeal breakfast in the morning. As it dries on my skin, it takes on a more sweet apple scent and the cinnamon calms a bit. And that is pretty much the extent of what I smell. This would be a good room scent or candle, but not something I'm interested in wearing as a perfume oil

 

[London]

Blood Orange and I love each other..but snake oil and I..just do not get along. Even with the other notes in the oil..snake oil still took over. Smelled good in the imp though.

 

Dry & wet it was a slightly sweeter verison of snake oil on me, with a smudge of fruit.

[Suu4LC]

Ooh. The snakes are very hit or miss with me-mostly misses unfortunately, but I always hold out hope and this one sounds lovely! Hmm...sniffing it in the imp I mostly get the plumeria/gardenia. I was hoping for more of the blood orange/apple and lemon peel, but this is reallly floral-y.

 

Huh. On my skin, this is REALLY hard to describe-I definitely get more of the orange/apple/lemon, which makes me really happy and they actually go REALLY well with the florals. I like this FAR more on my skin than I did in the imp. I really don't notice the snake oil at all. If I didn't know it was in here, I don't think I'd notice it. Though as this dries, I think this adds to the underlying spice of the blend. I can see where some people might get a cinnamon-apple from this.

 

This is getting added to the bottle list. I really have a hard time describing it. It does end up being more snake-oil-y as it dries down, and the florals go into the background, and the fruits come out and ahh. It's just such a unique, lovely combination! Will have to pick up a bottle of this before the Carnaval rolls outta town...

[puddingirl]

When sniffing the bottle I can smell the apples and blood orange which are cutting through the snake oil and providing a much lighter, fruitier scent. Ok I've forgotten which wrist I tested this on which is obviously a sign that it has no staying power on me, oops!

[Myrrha]

 

Wet: yum! Tart fruit

 

As it dries: The vanilla base comes out and it is a little strange because the fruits seem separate from the vanilla, as if I’m wearing two separate scents. It is delicious and I can’t stop smelling my wrist.

 

Dry: A little bit of spice comes out and the scent blends more now, so it is a fruity/spicy/vanilla. It is an absolutely wonderful scent. However I would like it better if I didn’t have to put my nose to my wrist in order to smell it. I tested the throw and it is about three inches. It got even fainter after an hour. If this were stronger I might buy a bottle.